Keeping Nepal in sync
Indian technology will now set the time right for the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (nbsm). On October 14, 2004, scientists of the New Delhi-based National Physical Laboratory (npl) installed a high-precision digital clock, called the teleclock, at the nbsm's Kathmandu office. The teleclock adjusts its time by dialling up a global positioning system receiver at nbsm office once a day. Its time accuracy is within one second.
Time synchronisation is emerging as a critical factor, especially for multi-city, multi-location operations such as ticketing, travelling, data exchange and long-distance telephone billing. Nepal is the second country after Saudi Arabia to benefit from the technology, for which npl scientists hold a patent in India and the us. What sets npl's technique apart is that it does not require a dedicated computer. Instead, each teleclock is fitted with a microchip and needs a telephone line. The teleclock costs a modest Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000.